Stay
by aolande1
Summary: "Andy, stay, with me.  You're my partner.  I need you."


A/N: Well here's a little something based on one of the promos. It's just my take on it. I'm not really sure how it will go down on the show, but this is sort of how I've been seeing this particular scene in my head for the past couple of days. It's been a long time since I've written for RB, so I hope I still have it. This is sort of a starter fic to get me back into it. I really hope you guys enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue

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><p>Andy McNally had been a full fledged cop for six months. She was no longer a rookie by title. She now had free reign to make her own decisions without having to run them by a training officer. Along with that freedom came responsibility, something she was still adjusting too. The safety net she had known for the last six months was gone.<p>

All of the rookies had adjusted well to their new found freedom over time. However, in the beginning things were a bit shaky. They still wanted to run ideas by the senior officers. Not because they needed or wanted to, it had just become sort of second nature to them. But they were adjusting, learning as they went and figuring out that there was no set definition on how to be a cop.

It was a sunny Tuesday afternoon and Andy and Chris had been driving around the streets of Toronto for the majority of the day. It was a relatively calm day with only a few minor calls. They had just finished getting lunch and were headed back out onto the streets when the radio went off in their squad car.

Dispatch announced there had been a shooting in an apartment building up town and asked for all available units to respond. Seeing as they weren't too far away from the location, Andy radioed and told dispatch they would respond as Chris hit the lights and turned on the siren. "Let's do this," he said as he punched on the gas.

When they arrived on scene, fifteen minutes later, it was buzzing with activity. A few officers were already in place sealing off the scene with caution tape. Others were starting to question and take statements from the crowd of bystanders that had gathered.

Chris and Andy jumped out of the car and immediately began to assess the situation. Chris headed over to where some other officers were questioning witnesses to get any information he could on what had happened. Andy decided to enter the building and see what kind of information she would be able to get from the officers that had gathered inside. It was a divide and conquer strategy that Chris had coined and they applied whenever they were paired together.

As Andy walked inside, the commotion intensified. She looked over at an officer that was questioning the building attendant who tilted his head in the direction of the elevators and told her to head to the third floor. She preceded while taking in as much information as she could. As she noticed the emptiness of the building she began to assume the majority of the surrounding crowd of people outside was probably made up of the building's tenants.

As the elevator doors opened, she stepped out and was immediately greeted by CSU who was sweeping the area for prints. She walked past and continued down the hall to where another duo of officers was standing.

"Hey, what do we got?" she asked as she walked up to the two male officers she recognized from her division.

"Nothing good," one of the officers answered. Andy took in his appearance and noticed he was unusually pale.

"A young boy was shot to death inside. The mother is saying it was an accident. A misunderstanding gone wrong. Claiming her son was caught in the crossfire," the other officer finished shaking his head in disgust.

"You can say that again," the first officer added before walking away. Andy assumed he was probably going to get some air.

"Go on in and see for yourself, McNally. This is in our jurisdiction so we'll be handling this one. I'll be downstairs, come find me when you're done," he said as he too walked away.

An apprehensive Andy took a deep breath and headed into the apartment unsure of what she would find. To her right, in the living room, she saw a man being cuffed and a women crying hysterically on the couch. She assumed the woman to be the mother. And judging by the cuffs, the man was probably the shooter.

She continued through the apartment towards the master bedroom and took in the scene. The furniture was all over the place as if someone had raided the room. The bed was a mess with the sheets all but ripped off. And then she noticed the medical examiner hunched over a tiny body.

Andy came to a halt upon seeing the little body lying lifelessly on the ground. She had to physically force herself to breathe. The boy couldn't have been older than five years old. As she gathered her strength, she started to make some mental notes. He was shot in the chest. Just once. He was lying on the floor, just left of the bed, in a pool of blood.

_Focus, Andy. You're a cop. This is your job. Go over there and see what happened_. She wasn't sure how, but she suddenly found herself hunched down on the other side of the boy's body. "Wha...what happened?" she asked the medical examiner while taking a closer look.

"Shot with a .38 that belongs to the boyfriend according to the mother. She said they were arguing and the boy walked in and startled him and he accidentally shot. It's a through and through. CSU already confiscated the bullet and is having it sent over to the lab," she finished as she pulled the boy's top back down and stood up.

"Jesus. How do you accidentally shoot a kid?" Andy asked rhetorically not being able to take her eyes off the boy.

"Well that's the thing," the medical examiner returned. "I'm not sure this was an accident."

And at that Andy was able to tear her eyes away from the boy. She got up and walked over to where she was standing. "What do you mean?" she asked cautiously.

"Well it's just the story doesn't make sense. The mom said her boyfriend was startled causing him to accidentally shoot the boy. But the shot, it's right in the middle of his chest. Almost like it was aimed," she said pulling her eyes away from the body and looking over at Andy.

"And if the guy was really startled it wouldn't have been such a perfect shot," Andy finished beginning to understand what the ME was getting at.

"Exactly," she answered. "This isn't looking like an accident. I'll know more once I get back to the lab and do a thorough examination.

All Andy could do was nod as the medical examiner walked back over to the boy. She had to get out of the room, the apartment. She had seen some pretty gruesome stuff on the job over the last year, but none of that compared to the scene that sat in front of her. She realized at that moment she would never get used to this job. Seeing that little boy lying on the floor, in a pool of blood, would be an image that would be burned into her memory for the rest of her life.

She needed to get out of there fast. She had the sudden urge to throw up and immediately regretted her choice of a steak burger for lunch. On her way out of the apartment she heard two familiar voices. When she rounded the corner she saw who they belonged to.

"Andy, hey. We just got here. Heard it's a kid," he said glancing past her shoulders beginning to build theory.

"Luke, yeah its a young boy," she said weakly looking between him and the woman he was with. "Hey, Jo," she said after a second of hesitation.

An awkward silence took over immediately between the three cops. "Well we should get inside and see what we can find out," Jo said looking from Andy and up to Luke.

Luke nodded in agreement and told Andy he would see her back at the station. All she could do was nod back. Now she really needed to get out of the building. As if the day hadn't taken a bad enough turn, she had to be cornered by her boyfriend and his ex...partner.

She headed down the hallway and to the elevator. As she excited she noticed there were even more people outside of the building than there had been earlier. She fought her way through the small crowded lobby to the door. She was practically running now. As she made it down the stairs and on to the sidewalk she heard her name being called by another familiar voice.

"McNally? McNally, hold up," Sam shouted as he began to run after her.

She heard him, but didn't stop. She needed to get away from the building and the crowd. She needed to breathe. Breathe air that wasn't apart of a crime scene. As she rounded the corner of the building she felt a tug on her arm.

"Hey, McNally," Sam said a little out of breath. "What's going on?" he asked as he took in her appearance.

"Nothing," she let out through a heavy breath. "Nothing. Sam, I'm fine," she said as she leaned back against the brick wall and used her shaking hands to rub her loose hair out of her face.

"McNally, you don't look fine. What happened in there?" he asked not being able to hide the concern in his voice.

"It's a kid, Sam. A little boy who can't be any older than five," she let out as she hit her head against the wall that was supporting her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Seeing him lying there ...all that blood..." she trailed off. "There's no way it was an accident. People don't accidentally shoot kids, Sam," she said feeling the anger that had been simmering in her belly begin to climb its way to the surface. "And that guy, the mother's boyfriend...God you should have seen him. He looks like a creep," she finished fighting to control her angry breaths.

"Okay," he whispered soothingly. "Calm down, McNally. These things happen. They do. It's hard. It's always hard when it's a kid," he said looking back and forth between her eyes willing her to hear him out.

She began to shake her head in protest.

"All we can do now is try to solve this case. Figure out what happened. We need to do our jobs to bring justice to this kid. It's alright to be angry. Hell, I'm angry. But we have to be strong," he finished looking deep into her shiny eyes.

He placed both his hands on her arms pulling her slightly away from the wall she was leaning on. "You're a good cop, McNally. This boy is lucky to have you working on his case. You're going to figure this out. _We're_ going to figure this out," he said sternly knowing she needed a little extra push.

She swallowed hard and shook her head in agreement. "Okay," she said lightly. "Okay," a little stronger this time. "I'm going to go find Chris and see if he's ready to head back to the station. The sooner we start on this the better."

He gave her his dimpled smile and a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder as they turned the corner and headed back to the scene.

The next few days were a living hell for the cops and detectives at the fifteenth division. The case was all consuming. They were all working around the clock to try and figure out what had happened to the little boy. After both the detectives and the medical examiner had found conclusive evidence proving the shooting was not an accident, it was the cops' jobs to do all they could to get a confession, or even a slip up, from either the mother or her boyfriend.

Andy and Sam went back and forth between the interrogation rooms that held the mother and her boyfriend. They questioned and questioned. Sometimes they would sit there and have a staring contest for hours. And when they came up with nothing, Chris and Dov would give it a whirl. These two people were going to break. The only question was were they going to break before the cops did?

On the third day of the investigation the mother slipped up. Or gave up, Andy wasn't really sure which. She had said one thing wrong and her story crumbled. It was always just a matter of time, Andy thought. And finally she had cracked. Once Andy saw her opening, she dove in and forced the mother to come clean. The shooting wasn't an accident at all. The boyfriend was angry, so angry at her and he took it out on her son. He shot her son in order to get back at her. He took away the one thing that meant the world to her. Once Andy made the woman realize this, she stopped covering for the man responsible and told the truth.

The case was closed.

For the first time in three days Andy was able to breathe. Really breathe. This had been the hardest and most exhausting case of her career. It was entirely overwhelming.

She needed to get out of the precinct. Her paperwork could wait until morning. She got up and headed to Luke's office. She really hoped that he would be ready to go home. All she wanted to do was curl up to him and forget about the last three days.

As she approached his office she couldn't help but overhear. When she knocked on the door and opened it she saw Luke and Jo sitting side by side behind his desk, over a stack of files, laughing.

"Andy," Luke said as he cleared his throat and stood up to greet her.

"I was wondering if you were ready to go home?" she said not being able to find it in herself to really care what his answer was going to be. A part of her already knew. Seeing him, with...her, only solidified what she already knew.

"Oh, sweetheart, I can't leave yet. We have to finish up the paperwork for this case," he said looking back at the stack of paperwork trying to show her how busy he was going to be. "Congratulations, by the way, on getting the mother to confess."

"Thanks," was all she could say. "I guess I'll see you later," she said as she turned to walk out of his office. There was no reason to wait for a reply.

She was done. Just done. She barely had the strength to make it to the locker room. She knew she was exhausted, but it wasn't just that. She was tired. Tired of everything. This case. Her job. Her relationship. She was over it, all of it.

So she sat there, on the bench, in the dark, contemplating her life. Contemplating her decisions.

She barely heard the door open over the sound of her own thoughts screaming at her. She glanced up once she saw the light shine across the tile and looked up to see _him_, the one person who would just know that she was conflicted. _How does he always know_, she thought to herself as she listened to him approach the bench she was seated on.

They sat there for a few minutes. Neither one of them being able to find the appropriate words.

"Hell of case," Sam finally let out when he couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Hell of a case," Andy agreed keeping her eyes on the floor. She didn't want to look at him. She knew what she would see in his eyes. She'd see concern, sincerity, _love_. She couldn't handle any of that right now.

"You did good, McNally," he said softly. "You found justice for that little boy."

She did. She knew she did. What she didn't know is why she felt so horrible. Why she felt like quitting. She had this unbearable urge to get up and just walk away. And if she left now, she didn't know if she would come back.

"Andy, talk to me," Sam pleaded as he gently rubbed his hand over one of her thighs.

She looked at his hand and shivered in response to the goosebumps his touch left. She finally found the will to speak, she only hoped her voice wouldn't betray her now. "I'm so tired," she said shaking her head. "This job...it's ...so hard," she said completely defeated. "I don't know if I can do it anymore, Sam," she finished looking up at him.

He shook his head letting her know he understood what she was saying. "Andy, you're an amazing cop. You really are. I'm not just saying that because I was your training officer. You know what makes you so amazing at what you do?" he asked not waiting for her to answer. "Your passion. You put everything you have into your cases and that's what makes you so good at this job. It's not just protocol or procedure to you. And that's why you feel this way right now. You just put everything you had into bringing justice to this little boy. And you know what? You did it. _You _did."

She sat there for a moment, taking in what he said. She couldn't help the traitorous tear that slid down her cheek. "It's not just the job, Sam. It's everything," she said glancing up at him but only for a moment.

"What do you mean?" he asked with more concern than she had ever heard from him.

She felt a few more tears escape her eyes. "He's sleeping with her, Sam. He thinks I don't know."

Sam nodded as she realized what she was saying. He knew it would come to this. Luke breaking her heart. Luke and Jo. He reached his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. There wasn't anything he could say that would make her feel better about Luke cheating. It was going to hurt no matter what he said. All he could do was show her how much _he_ cared.

After a few comforting seconds against his side Andy pulled away. "I don't know if I can do it anymore. Any of it. I just want to get away. Away from all of it," she finished bringing her sad eyes to his. She was surprised to see that his mirrored the sorrow in hers.

"Andy," he said lightly, barely above a whisper. "Don't run away. It's hard right now, but it won't always be. If you left, think about what it would do to the other rookies. They would be lost without you. And think about what it would do to this division...losing a cop like you..." he trailed off trying to think of more arguments he could use to talk her into staying.

"Ask me to stay," she said looking deep into his eyes. She needed to hear it. She needed to hear it from _him_. She needed to know that someone cared.

Sam hesitated only to capture the full depth of emotion in her eyes. "Stay," he said in one demanding and pleading sentence. "Andy, stay, with me. You're my partner. I need you."

She smiled and let out a laugh that came out as a half sob. "You need me?" she asked unable to believe what she just heard. "Look at me," she said looking down and shaking her head. "I'm a mess."

He laughed and nodded in agreement, "Yeah, but you're _my_ mess," he said only half joking.

"Hey," she said giving him a punch in the arm. Although, she did realize what he was saying to her. She was his mess. She was _his_.

"Look, Andy," he began a little more serious than before. "I get what you're going through. This job is a lot to handle. And when your going through personal turmoil on top of it, it can seem unbearable. But you're strong. You will get through this. This job is too rewarding for you to give up on it," he paused bumping his shoulder against hers and continued, "You're a McNally, you're not a quitter."

She looked up at him and smiled for the first time in three days. "Thank you, Sam. For everything. I don't know what I would do without you sometimes."

"Always, Andy. I'll always be here," he said pausing to let the depth of his words sink in. "Besides, we're partners, it's my job to have your back."

All she could do was nod at the realization of what he had just said. It was definitely time for her to make some changes in her life. Always sounded a lot more promising than maybe. She was done with maybe.

"C'mon, McNally, let me take you home," he said as he got up and offered her his hands.

She grabbed his hands and walked out with him by her side. She casually slipped her arm around his waist. She felt him hesitate for only a second before he protectively placed his arm around her shoulder.

And they left the precinct, arm in arm, not caring who saw.

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><p><em>Sorry, I couldn't help but make Luke the bad guy. It sorta becomes a theme in every one of my stories. And I think it's pretty clear by one of the promos that something definitely goes down with Jo...so hopefully this is somewhat justified. Let me know what you guys think!<em>


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